Topics and Logos Controlled Vocabulary
The Topic section of Topic Guide and Basic search, and similar sections in other Guides depend on the Logos Controlled Vocabulary (LCV) to function. Basically the LCV is a manual association of synonyms. For example, Eucharist, Lord’s Supper, and Communion can all refer to the same concept; the LCV associates these terms and allows searches with different terminology to bring up relevant results. Topical resources (i.e. Bible Dictionaries/Encyclopedias) must be specially tagged to work in these Topic Sections, and Faithlife now has many resources with this special tagging. The searching strategies discussed by this wiki are not limited to the LCV-tagged resources.
Topic found in Topic Guide
The Topic Guide provides a Topic section with links to LCV resources that address the topic, links to related concepts (e.g. links to “Marriage Customs” and “Polygamy” for your topic of “Marriage”), an expanded query you can use to Search more broadly for this topic, and related information in sections such as Related Verses, Sermons and Illustrations.
General methods to help on topics
You will find these methods useful when researching a topic.
Using Factbook for topic info
In most cases you should start with Factbook, as this will provide links to other guides, such as Topic Guide.
Using Bible Word Study for topic info
A Bible Word Study on an English word will often provide useful information in its Topic section.
Use the Parallel Resources
You can use Parallel Resources from a resource that you have open to a topic. Logos will look through your parallel resource for that topic or a close subject and display them in the Parallel drop down menu. It helps to have collections tagged to display in Parallel Resources.
- Click on the Parallel Resource’s icon in your resource’s toolbar.
- Logos searches through your parallel resources (in the their collection) and shows them in a drop down Parallel Resource list
- Once that you have clicked on a Parallel Resource Logos opens it in the same tab.
Use the Plus tab to see other resources
When you click on the Plus sign (+) in a panel, Logos will use the topic that you have open in the current tab when selecting resources to show you in the new Plus tab. This can aid you in locating other resources which cover your topic.
Note that the icons on the left just show you resources similar to the current resource, and the list on the right may not show resources that have the currently selected topic.
Topic found in Basic Search
Logos provides a Topic section in Search when you use the Basic Search method and select Everything.
The results, however, are very similar to those from a Topic Guide, which is a more efficient way of getting the results.
Topic from a Field Search
Large Text or Heading Text from the Search Fields drop down in Basic Search will work in any resource that has been tagged with those Search Fields. Large Text tagging is based on font size and is automatically provided by the Indexer on all resources with “large” text, which is usually found in headings. The size basis is not perfect but it provides an alternative to LCV tagged resources. You can restrict the search to any topical collection (below).
Topic from a Headword Search
Headwords are used to identify articles in a resource. It is usually the visible text at the top of an article, but there can be non-visible headwords, or aliases. They are found in resources like a bible dictionary/encyclopedia, or concordance.
{Headword topic} —> returns the text of an article, so it is also possible to search for words WITHIN the article.
For example:
{Headword Salvation}
{Headword Salvation, nature of}
mercy WITHIN {Headword Salvation}
Searching using a Collection
You might want to create a collection for resources which you consider having useful topic information. Then you can use the Search tool to search for your topic only in your collection.
- Create a collection of books in your library which are useful for finding topics e.g. type:encyclopedia.
- Open the Search tool and set the Search method to Basic.
- From the Resources drop-down, select your collection for topical searches.
- Use Large Text and Heading Text instead of All Text to improve the relevance of your results.
- Enter your topic word in the Search box, or use {Headword topic}, and then press Enter.
- Review each book in the search window to locate articles on your topic.